It’s already February in a cold and snowy Staffordshire Moorlands, but are we hibernating? We are not!

First and foremost, a reminder for those of you have may have missed it in the Christmas rush: we have for your delectation and delight a collection of short fiction from a master of the form. Tell No Lies by John Grant is a fabulous volume of twelve stories to thrill you and chill you and to take you on journeys of the fantastic!

It is an easy enough mistake to make – the most natural mistake in the world.

Cello is hooked up to the machine, but whose dreams does she experience?

The house is suddenly infested, but with … what?

At the Edinburgh Fringe he meets Kristie. She seems to be exactly what he needs.

The books Philip buys contain a signature that has no right to be there.

In a West Country village petrol is ridiculously cheap. Where does it come from?

Caught in a blizzard he finds himself in Memoryville … where he meets an old acquaintance…

Ginfalcio Beeswax and Truculence Fish are all that stand between the monsters from the blackness of outer space and the end of mankind. But are issues closer to home more frightening than multi-tentacled aliens?

Good morning/ afternoon /evening (delete as applicable). It’s Christmas Eve and the time of year to look back on our achievements and, of course, to anticipate the things to come. We know you are all very busy at this moment, making mince pies, wrapping presents, decorating the tree, buying last-minute gifts, so we’re keeping this Newsletter brief.

Firstly our big news for the day! We have a brand new collection just off the press from the talented Mr John Grant — Tell No Lies:

The Great War started a hundred years ago. What is the link between your story in Silver Light and that war?

My story is mostly set in the First World War trenches and, particularly, in No Man’s Land. I studiously researched the story – more on that later.

What concerns did you have when it came to writing your story, how you planned to cover the subject matter? Were you worried that the anthology might have become too much like a regular “horror” book?

My concern was to have a believable underpinning layer of the horror of combat and thus ground the story in historical realism. It’s the First World War, millions died and suffered horribly and there’s no escaping or disguising that fact. However, one must also make an imaginative leap – and I believe that my story does that – otherwise one is simply regurgitating Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, et al.

As for the anthology becoming too much of a regular horror book, that’s really the editor’s and the publisher’s concern in this instance, not a worry for an individual contributing author. I have been to a few events this year marking the commemoration of the outbreak of World War One and, simply and selfishly, it was my wish and intention to place my story in this Great War themed anthology as my own statement regarding the conflict.

The Great War started a hundred years ago. What is the link between your story in Silver Light and that war?

My story is set during the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. That was the first time all divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought together as single force. It’s a battle that has taken on more significance for Canada as a nation, which prior to the First World War had no major standing army, because it represented a victory for the country as a whole, than it did strategically for the Allies in the war.

It was still an example of a new approach to trench warfare, though, with the combination of extensive preliminary bombardment and a coordinated rolling barrage — and as it turned out, at Vimy the German forces could not make use of their new doctrine of “defence in depth.” Both contributed to the battle’s outcome.

The question of when the final assault on the German lines would begin is central to the short story I wrote.

The Great War started a hundred years ago. What is the link between your story in Silver Light and that war?

I saw a documentary on the TV about the tunnellers who laid mines underneath the enemy trenches. And I then thought it would be an unusual angle for a story. I went on to read a couple of books about the tunnelling war to get the right spelling and background detail. Hence “A Very Strange Tunnelling Company”.

What concerns did you have when it came to writing your story, how you planned to cover the subject matter? Were you worried that the anthology might have become too much like a regular “horror” book?

Initially I thought there was enough, indeed too much real horror in the war itself. And actually I still think that. To counter balance this I wanted to write something that could not conceivably be real. I also wanted to lighten the tone with a gender confusion sub-plot which is one of the oldest jokes around. There was never much chance of me contributing a “regular” horror story.